DUSHANBE, February 12, 2016, Asia-Plus –
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service
, locally known as
Ozodi
, yesterday reported that police in Tajikistan have arrested Tajik Salafists’ leader Muhammadi Rahmatullo.
According to
RFE/RL’s Tajik Service
, the 43-year-old Muhammadi Rahmatullo, who is better known as Mullah Muhammadi, faces three charges, including one for inciting religious enmity.
In January 2015, local media cited his relatives as saying that he had been detained by police, but the Interior Ministry later denied the report.
It should be noted that Muhammadi Rahmatullo is known for his anti-IRP position. Dushanbe-based weekly newspaper
Faraj
last year published an article under Rahmatullo’s byline in which the writer condemned the opposition Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRP), which has since been banned and designated a terrorist organization.
In the piece, Rahmatullo claimed that the IRP was financed by “foreign governments” and argued that Tajikistan had no need for such parties.
He further stated that the IRT was to blame for the devastating civil war of the 1990s and said the party had links to Iran. He suggested that the IRP should be disbanded.
Ozodi
cited Tajik expert Faridoun Hodizoda as saying, “The struggle against the IRP was a certain program of Salafists. Salafists consider Iran supporter of the IRP.” Since Salafists themselves are financed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arabic states, they are struggling against all forces cooperating with Iran, the expert noted.
“One could see that Salafists have been working against the IRP and the government has been happy about that, but their struggle was nothing more than an ideological struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia,” Hodizoda said.
Meanwhile,
EurasiNet.org
reports that some local observers have speculated that a new wave of repression may have been initiated against the Salafists out of spite following President Emomali Rahmon’s failure to secure more generous financial aid from Saudi Arabia during a recent visit to the country.
The Salafi movement or Salafist movement is an ultra-conservative orthodox movement within Sunni Islam that references the doctrine known as Salafism. The movement first appeared in Tajikistan in the early 2000s, having been brought back to the country by Tajiks that had taken refuge in Pakistan during the civil war.
The movement claims to follow a strict and pure form of Islam, but Tajik clerics say the Salafists’ radical stance is similar to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Salafists do not recognize other branches of Islam, such as Shi”a and Sufism. The movement is frequently referred to as Wahhabism, although Salafists reject this as derogatory.
The Tajik authorities banned Salafism as an illegal group on January 8, 2009, saying the Salafi movement represents a potential threat to national security and the Supreme Court added Salafis to its list of religious groups prohibited from operating in the country.
On December 8, 2014, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan formally labeled the banned Salafi group as an extremist organization. The ruling reportedly followed a request submitted to the court by the Prosecutor-General’s Office. The ruling means that the group’s website and printed materials are also banned.
The overwhelming majority of Tajiks are followers of the Hanafi madhab, a more liberal branch of Sunni Islam.
